Letang Is The Truth wrote:how is using water and washing and drying different than dishwasher?

There are plenty of dishes (mugs, glasses, etc) that may be hand-wash only as opposed to dishwasher-safe.

For example, we have wood salad bowls. If you put them in the dishwasher where they are being drenched for several hours on end, it will completely ruin them. However, if you use water sparingly when washing them by hand, and then immediately dry them with a towel, they will be fine.

What Kraftster said. The first step (that I use anyway) after cooking with a cast iron skillet is to rinse it out with hot water...it's kind of necessary, not sure how you would clean it without water. If some rust does develop, you just brush it out and re-season your pan.

Yeah, you can typically take care of rust. There's no reason you can't use water on cast iron if its seasoned. When my mom baked, the key to french bread is getting the crust on it. One of the best ways to get it is to put a hot cast iron skillet (small) in a pan of water in the oven below the bread (to create steam). The bottom/sides of those skillets would rust a little bit, but you could pretty easily take care of that. The seasoned surface was fine.

Kosher or coarse salt with minimal amount of oil (from cooking or new) to form a paste that scours the pan. Using a paper towel or clean rag, scrub the pan clean with the salt paste. Dump out the salt, and using a slightly damp paper towel, wipe out any residual salt and then apply a tiny amount of fresh oil and wipe the pan again.

For added flavoring, cook bacon in the pan now and then. Once heated, the pores in the pan expand and absorbs the grease. Remove the bacon, leave the pan to cool with the grease and then clean with the technique above.

I’ve been following Lodge’s recommendations for cleaning their pans for years, and they recommend that if you can’t get the pan clean with just a wipe-out, you can clean with hot water (no soap) and a scrub brush. If you immediately dry the pan off, you won’t get rust, and with no soap the seasoning isn’t really affected. Lodge recommends hitting the pan with a little oil once it’s dry.

So I'm almost there...beautiful crust, perfect medium to medium rare temp...but after I let it rest and get it on the plate, it's barely warm anymore. How do you keep the steak "hot" while it's resting?

shmenguin wrote:So I'm almost there...beautiful crust, perfect medium to medium rare temp...but after I let it rest and get it on the plate, it's barely warm anymore. How do you keep the steak "hot" while it's resting?

does your dishwasher have a plate warming setting? you can heat plates a number of ways.

i actually have a few filets i cut myself sitting in the kichen warming. date night tonight